


Remember

by Wind_Writes



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Loss of Parent(s), Love, Memorial Day, Military, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 00:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18981142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wind_Writes/pseuds/Wind_Writes
Summary: Memorial Day Weekend is the official start of summer for most people. It’s cookouts, it’s friends, it’s beer, but for some people it has a deeper meaning.





	Remember

The bonfire that Fangs had built shimmered against the evening sky as North and Southsiders gathered around with fresh beers and passed the last of the cookout leftovers amongst themselves. Someone had been nice enough to bring a wireless speaker and those who weren’t sitting around the fire were dancing in groups, their laughter cutting through the silence of a summer night. **  
**

Mothernatrue had decided to cooperate with your plans for the holiday weekend and brought some of her best weather out in honor of the celebration; there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky all day, the temperature was up and a slight breeze rustled through the trees to make the conditions enjoyable despite the heat. Memorial Day was the first official day of summer in your mind and what better way to celebrate than with a giant cookout.

You had organized a cornhole tournament, at some point a beer pong table had been set up and there had been a steady flow of people in and out of the water most of the day. Toni and you had done most of the salads, left the chips and drinks to Jughead and Fangs and Sweet Pea had willingly manned the grill to keep a steady flow of fresh burgers and hot dogs rolling.

Your brows furrowed at the thought of Sweet Pea when you realized he wasn’t with you. In fact, you hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since he’d shut off the grill. It was hard to make out faces as the light quickly faded from the sky, but his towering frame was where near the fire or in the collection of bodies bopping to the beat. You were about to head back towards the vehicles, thinking he’d gone back for another rack of beer, but then you caught sight of him.

Alone and lounging against a large tree at the fringes, the glow of the fire illuminated enough of his features for you to see his brows were drawn and the look in his eyes was distant. Snagging a couple beers from the cooler, you picked your away amongst the fallen branches to join him, offering him the drink before setting against the tree with him. “Hey, you ok?”

Popping the top, Sweet Pea took a deep pull from his beer as he watched Fangs’ animated retelling of some story of something he’d gotten over on Jughead, or so he assumed based on the daggers the beanie wearing Serpent was shooting at everyone who laughed at his expense. People’s eyes were bright with humor and their laughter mingled with the chirpings of early season peepers. It truly was a beautiful way to ring in the start of summer. “You did a great job with this.”

“Thanks.” You loved throwing parties and entertaining your friends; seeing everyone laughing and enjoying themselves gave you high like nothing else. “Everyone seems to be having a good time it.” Well, almost everyone.

People enjoying your parties had never been a problem from what Sweet Pea could tell, no matter the holiday or the theme, everything you planned was a hit. He figured that’s why you’d made a success of the party planning endeavour you’d started, you just had the touch. “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t have a good time at one of your parties.”

“Except you, apparently.” You knew Sweet Pea had enjoyed himself most of the day, especially when he and Fangs had managed to beat out Archie and Jughead in cornhole, but something had to of shifted once the sun set.

Sweet Pea gave your thigh a tight squeeze as he continued to watch his friends, a chuckle vibrating deep in his chest as he watched Reggie reach out and prevent Archie from falling face first into the flames. “I’m having a great time.” Nothing you’d done was the reason for his melancholy mood, if anything you had kept it at bay longer than he thought possible.

Taking a swing from your own bottle, you scoffed at Archie’s drunken antics and Sweet Pea’s lie. You weren’t the most perceptive person in the world, but even this couldn’t skate by you.“And that’s why you’re sulking back here in the shadows.”

“I’m not sulking. Just… thinking.”

It took everything in you not to roll your eyes at his lack of answer. Along with not being perceptive, you didn’t particularly enough guessing games. “About?”

“Things.” Involuntarily, Sweet Pea reached for the dogtags that hung from his neck, the pad of his pad of his thumb running over the stamped information belonging to the original owner.

“About your dad.” It wasn’t a question, realization crashing down around you in an instant. For most people Memorial Day was a weekend of cookouts, games and an extra day off from work, but for a particular group of the population it was something much more and until he’d reached for the dogtags you’d forgotten he was part of that.

“He gave everything and for what?” There was a bitterness in his voice that Sweet Pea hadn’t been expecting. His dad had been killed in action when Sweet Pea had been in elementary school and despite the years that had passed, he had never forgiven the military for taking his life before Sweet Pea was ready.

“To protect this country. To protect you.” Sweet Pea didn’t talk about his dad much, the topic still a sore subject for him; it hadn’t been until you asked about the flag case on his bookshelf that he told you about his father, and the circumstances around his death. In the whirl of the party you’d forgotten about all of this and you hated yourself for it.

“He didn’t deserve to go that way.” They same time heals all wounds, but the fact that his dad had come home from Iraq in a coffin had created a wound that would never truly heal for him. A few pictures and a flag was all he had to remember his old man by and it would never be enough.

Taking hold of Sweet Pea’s hand, you intertwined your fingers with his to offer what little comfort you could. You knew he didn’t want your sympathy and nothing you could say would make it better, but you wanted to offer what you could now. “No one ever does.”

“I never got to say goodbye.” His voice was barely above a whisper. That had been the hardest pill for Sweet Pea to swallow and he still hadn’t made peace with it. One day his father had been alive and the next a man in uniform was standing at the door to break the news. In the blink of an eye Sweet Pea’s life had changed forever.

“He was a brave man.”

The corners of Sweet Pea’s lips quirked at your words, his hold on your hand tightening as he thought back to the day he’d watched his dad board the plane. Not a lot of kids in Riverdale could say that about their parents and it was point of pride for Sweet Pea that he could. “Yeah, he was.”

“Want me to go with you tomorrow?” You couldn’t begin to comprehend what Sweet Pea went through every time this holiday rolled around, but that didn’t mean you wouldn’t stand beside him and help him anyway you could. Even if that just meant just standing in the grass with him.

Turning his dark eyes on your for the first time since you’d come over, a soft smile graced his lips as he took in the the sincerity that shown in your eyes. Pulling you close, Sweet Pea rested lips resting against your brow as we gave ample thought to your offer; since he could remember he’d gone to the cemetery alone each year to pay his respects, not wanting to bring down everyone’s holiday hight, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want the company. And you, above anyone else, was who he’d like beside him for the first time. “That would be great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick drabble I thought up to remember the reason we celebrate this long weekend. Submitting this for Theme 1: Fox Forest for the Southside Showcase.


End file.
